Network ports and URLs that are required for Windows Live Messenger 2009 to work

SUMMARY

This article describes the network ports that Windows Live Messenger Version 2009 must be able to access to work on a Windows-based computer. This articles also lists the URLs that Messenger uses.

MORE INFORMATION

Network ports

The following table lists the network ports that Windows Live Messenger must use for specific features to work.

Feature

Port

Sign in to the Messenger service

TCP 80, 443, 1863

Network detection

TCP 7001UDP 9, 7001

Voice and video (V/V)

Messenger VOIP servers for call establishment of voice and video services listen on ports 1863, 443, and 80.Media flows directly between both endpoints (either directly or through a relay server) over UDP or TCP by using any available port.

Audio (legacy) *

UDP 5004 - 65535

Webcam and video conversations

TCP 80TCP/UDP 5000 - 65535

File transfer

TCP 443, 1863TCP/UDP 1025 - 65535

Whiteboard and application sharing

TCP 1503

Remote Assistance

TCP 3389TCP/UDP 49152 - 65535

Windows Live Call

TCP 443, 5061UDP 5004 - 65525

Games

TCP 80, 443, 1863TCP/UDP 1025 - 65535

* These ports are used when you are connected to a contact through a "legacy" (old version) client program, such as MSN Messenger 5.0.

URLs

The following table lists the URLs to which Windows Live Messenger connects.

URL

Function

https://Login.live.com

HTTP over SSL (HTTPS) authentication to Windows Live ID and obtaining x509 certificates for secure peer-to-peer (p2p) connections for the Sharing Folders feature

http://Login.live.com

HTTP authentication to Windows Live ID

https://*.contacts.msn.com

To obtain the contact list

https://*.storage.msn.com

Storage of the user tile, personal status message, and display name for a user so that the user can have the same set of information across all Windows Live experiences on work and home computers; (Simple Object Access Protocol [SOAP] over HTTPS)

http://*.storage.msn.com

Storage of the user tile (HTTP DAV) and obtaining pictures from a user's Windows Live Space

http://c.msn.com

To set an anonymous unique ID for a user to personalize the Windows Live experience

http://*.messenger.msn.com

Various core messenger operations

http://g.msn.com

Redirect URLs used for tracking the start of a URL for a particular page to Microsoft Web sites

http://crl.microsoft.com

To access the latest Certificate Revocation List (CRL) to check the validity of a certificate

Various core Messenger operations; for example, echo servers that are used to establish direct connectivity between two messenger clients for peer-to-peer (p2p) communication when clients are behind firewalls

http://relay.data.edge.messenger.live.com

Media relay used to transfer binary data (files, voice, or video)

http://rad.msn.com

To download advertising content to display in the client and to download ad-sponsored personal expression content, such as display pictures and emoticons

http://appdirectory.messenger.msn.com

Used by Messenger activities/games applications that run inside Messenger applications

https://images.messenger.msn.com

For messenger image files

http://spaces.live.com

For the contact card

http://relay.voice.messenger.msn.com

Media relay used for voice

http://sup.live.com

To obtain the "What’s New" list

http://sup.live.com/whatsnew/whatsnewservice.asmx

Service URL for the Social Update Service

http://vp.sip.messenger.msn.com

SIP proxy for legacy and interop voice/video calls with other services (Messenger for Mac, Office Communicator)

Note Users who have computers that are behind some authenticating proxy servers may experience sign-in problems. They might have to configure the proxy server to force authentication for the following User Agent string:

MSN Explorer/9.0 (MSN 8.0; TmstmpExt).

To do this, see the documentation for your proxy server or contact your network administrator.